I want to thank my parents for putting me right into sports as a young child. I don’t know where I would be today in my life without all of those teams. I often reflect on growing up playing sports and my teen years of teams. All of my best memories have revolved around sports and teams. From recreation league basketball and baseball games, and later to travel softball teams,it was my parents deserve a giant thank-you.

I remember some of my favorite days were the days of which I had a game. When I was younger, I knew on game day I would have something quick for dinner, like pizza or mac and cheese. I loved everything about game days.

It was difficult for me to choose between basketball and baseball as my favorite game to play. But as I grew older, softball became my choice sport. I found MY SPORT as a freshman in high school.

Softball is important to me for so many reasons, one of the main reasons is because I had the opportunity to have been a part of some teams with some of the best coaches. I loved learning new things and new tricks on how to improve my game and be the best I could be. I want to say thank you to all of my former teammates and coaches for helping me develop my love for the game. I count you as close friends.

I think the teammates and friends who I’ve made along the way are a few of the reasons why I learned to love sports so much. My high school softball teammates are young women I’ll never forget. From starting out as a newbie freshman and making senior friends, to becoming a senior and having freshman friends, it was worthwhile and loved experience. I honestly think one of my favorite things about being a freshman and playing alongside all of the seniors was that I made lifelong friends, and some of them became job co-workers as well as teammates and friends.

High school softball was a blast for me to play. But travel softball games and those memories were some of the best I ever had. I played on two travels teams during my softball career, but the last one that I played for at the end of my senior year of high school was definitely the best. The young women from that team are some of my closest friends. Some of them became like family. I treasure our non-stop laughs. Regardless of our wins and losses, the experiences were awesome. And how cool is it that rival school teammates could play together on a travel team? Of course, we busted on each other all the time! But, that’s why I loved it.

I know having great teammates and great experiences are important for any team. But it was important to me to actually play the game well. I think the best feeling in the world is stepping out onto the field with my glove on my left hand and number 14 on my back. I played with heart because I loved the game. It never mattered to me what kind of team I was playing on, whether it was for a town league with women from 18-40,a travel team, grade school, or high school.I always carried the same feeling of total enjoyment with me. High school, travel, slow pitch leagues , it’s all the same in the end. As long as I can put my hand in my glove and field a couple of pop ups, maybe get a single or double while I’m up to bat, I’m a very happy girl. The field is definitely one of my few happy places, and I am grateful for softball for giving me joy. Every day I am not playing softball with friends ,I miss it. I even catch myself getting the urge to throw a ball the way I throw a softball wherever I am. I could be in my house and throw a towel to my fiancé and still bring my arm all the way back and use the mechanics that I used in softball. Some of it just never goes away. I’m glad I have the opportunity to go to the field and play catch, which I do pretty often, but it will never be nearly the same as when I played for a team.